


Spider Sitter

by genericfanatic



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Avengers Endgame Spoilers, Gen, canon character death
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-10
Updated: 2019-05-10
Packaged: 2020-02-29 15:31:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,748
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18781093
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/genericfanatic/pseuds/genericfanatic
Summary: Peter Parker is called in to babysit for Morgan Stark





	Spider Sitter

This was ridiculous, Peter thought, as Happy drove him further out into the woods. Pepper Potts had been left with a fortune after the death of her husband, she could afford real nannies and governesses and….whatever else rich people had to raise their children. 

But, at the funeral, his Aunt May had told him to pay his respects to Pepper, going up and talking to her. So he went up, said the traditional “Sorry for your loss,” a useful invention for when you didn’t know what to say at a funeral, but lacked anything to say after. So, after she smiled and nodded, he just said “If you need anything, like, I could look after Morgan if you needed or...something….”

He and Pepper hadn’t talked often. They were acquaintances, but little more. Polite, but it wasn’t like he knew anything about her that wasn’t public knowledge. Which was why it was strange one day when she called and asked if he could come over and watch Morgan for an evening while she had some press event to attend for Stark Industries’ rebuilding efforts. 

He agreed, because what else was he going to do, and Happy had come to pick him up right on time. Before he knew it, he was back at where the funeral had been. The place Mr. Stark had lived, for 5 years while Peter was...wherever he was. It didn’t look very….Mr. Stark-y. He always associated Mr. Stark with big cities and tall towers, and high tech. The woods didn’t accommodate much for that. Maybe that was why he liked it. 

He got out, looking up at the house, as Happy walked around. “Why me?” Peter finally managed, before Happy could go inside.

Happy shrugged, “Never question a mother’s intuition.” 

Peter didn’t know what to do with that, so he just followed him in. 

Pepper was walking into the room, putting on earrings and smoothing out her dress to appear publicly. “Peter! Good, you’re here.” She came up and Peter only had a few seconds to realize she was coming in for a hug. He gingerly hugged her back, unsure of what to do. “I’ve left phone numbers on the fridge, and a couple frozen dinners in the freezer. Dinosaur chicken nuggets, they’re Morgan’s favorite.” She grabbed a remote and clicked it, a wall sliding away to reveal a TV, “She’s allowed to watch a couple hours of television, but bed time is at a strict 9:00, no exceptions. I should be back around 12:30, feel free to use the wi-fi, have snacks and do whatever else.”

“Where’s Morgan?” Peter couldn’t help asking. He was pretty sure he was tripping all over his tongue today.

Pepper sighed, sad, as she led him to the window. “Where she always is these days.”

Pepper led him to the small tent outside, “Morgan sweetie?” She said, “I’m going to head out with Happy now. This is Peter, he’s going to stay with you.”

“Hi,” Peter said to the tent. 

There was no response. Pepper sighed, “Make sure to come out for food and bed time, ok?” There was a shifting in the tent, which Pepper took as an answer. She threw Peter an apologetic look before going out to the car, where Happy drove her away.

Peter took a deep breath and sat in front of the tent. “Sooo. Do you like to play any games?” No answer. He couldn’t blame her, it was a lame question. “What about TV? We could watch something together. Not a lot of the programs I liked are still around, but there are some new ones I’ve been starting. There’s this show called Teen Titans Go? It’s based o a show I watched as a kid, and it’s like superheroes and…..”

Right. Morgan probably didn’t want to watch superheroes. She probably didn’t want to have anything to DO with superheroes. Peter wouldn’t, in her case. He swallowed, looking down at his knees, searching for the right words, but they didn’t exist. “I knew your Dad...pretty well, you know,” he said. “He looked out for me, when I was really new to...well, lets just say I was going through a lot of changes.” He took a breath, leaning his head against a tree. “Most adults would say that I shouldn’t be a hero, or out there doing things, that it was too dangerous. But your Dad….he just made sure I was safe. And I...I tried to keep him safe too.”

There was a shifting in the tent, Peter’s only clue that Morgan was listening to her. “You know, I lost my parents when I was about your age,” he said, “Both of them. I don’t mean like, ‘I have it worse’ or whatever, because that’s a stupi-, er...that’s a SILLY argument. Pain isn’t measured like that.” He took a sigh, “I just want to say…I get it. I know what you’re going through.”

He held his knees. “It hurts, ya know? And it doesn’t really get easier. I lost my uncle too, only a few years ago. I still have my aunt, and my friends. I feel...lucky, in a way. But also guilty. And sad. And lonely, still.” He turned to the tent. “That’s a lot for anyone, especially someone your age. You shouldn’t have had to go through it, but now you’re here. So, if you want to talk, or scream, or let it out in any way you want….I’m here. I get it.” 

He waited what felt like a painfully long time. She was still in there, he could see the shadows of tiny knees on the ground. But she refused to come out.

Peter stretched and got up, switching tactics, “How about a snack, huh? I saw some poptarts in the pantry. The good kind, cinnamon swirl. You like poptarts?” She didn’t say anything, but everyone liked Cinnamon Pop Tarts. “I’ll go get you some, be right back.”

Peter decided to toast the pop tarts. He hoped that thing he stuck them in was a toaster, anyway. It was kind of hard to tell what appliance was for what in the Stark house. Peter could see Mr. Stark had fiddled with just about everything in here. 

His back was completely turned when he had a slight suspicion, a prickling on the back of his neck, that he needed to turn around. He’d learned to listen to those weird feelings he’d been getting recently, and so he did.

It was a good thing too. While his back was turned, a small person, Morgan specifically, had crawled out of the tent and was rushing off into the woods. “Hey!” he said, knowing she couldn’t hear her. 

Peter was trained by Mr. Stark, and therefore learned never leave your suit at home. He snapped his web shooters onto his wrists and grabbed onto trees, easily leaping along Morgan’s path. It took him a second to realize she wasn’t running, she was on a roller skates. Rocket powered skates. 

Damn, Mr. Stark was a cool dad.

Thankfully, even Mr. Stark seemed to understand that a 4 year old with rockets might be a bit dangerous, so they didn’t go too fast. Probably so Tony could keep up. Luckily that meant Peter could too. 

He scooped the kid off the ground, the rockets petering out. “Now where do you think you’re going missy?” 

Morgan stared up at him, amazed. “You fly?”

Peter snorted and then landed, holding Morgan in one arm. “Not exactly. Its just one of the perks of being Spider-man.” He winked at her like he was sharing a secret, but she must have known about it. 

Morgan made grabby hands for his web-slinger, and so he lifted his wrist to her. She looked over the mechanics of it. “Did...Did my Dad make these for you?”

Peter felt a sharp pain go through his heart. “Well, he helped improve them,” He said, “But I actually designed them myself. I’m a bit of a science whiz, actually.”

Morgan chewed on her bottom lip a bit. “Can I try them?”

Peter made a noise, about to say he thought it was a bad idea, but he made a critical mistake. He looked into her eyes. She really did have her Dad’s eyes, but big and on a four year old girl. It wasn’t possible to say no to that.   
“Ok….Ok just for a little while. But the we gotta go back in before the Pop-Tarts get cold, ok?” Morgan nodded. 

He set her down and he attached the slinger onto her wrist. “Ok, so you make a hand shape like this,” He showed her, “And then you’ll just press the button and try and attach the web to the trees.”

As the daughter of Tony Stark, Morgan was naturally and picked it up quickly. Too quickly. 

Peter forgot the key detail of ‘oh yeah this 4 year old girl is way lighter than me’ so the moment the web made contact, she bungeed up into the trees. “Morgan!” Peter shouted jumping up into the tree after her. He easily gripped onto the bark, landing just beside where Morgan was twirling on the branch, her wrist stuck to the tree. 

And she was laughing her head off. “Again!” She cried out, “Again, again, again!” 

Peter smiled, “Maybe later,” he said, carefully detaching the webslinger from the tree and catching Morgan out of the air. The slight drop had her laughing all the more. “Pop-Tarts now, then we can play, ok?” 

Morgan kept giggling, and Peter swung them over to the house. 

Maybe this is why Pepper asked him to come, he thought. So many adults were around Morgan all the time, reminding her of her father, and the war against Thanos and everything else. Maybe Pepper though, no, knew, that what she really needed was some fun with someone just a little closer to her age. She needed to be a kid again.

 

Miles away, Happy had just pulled up to the airport, and Pepper got out, ready for her conference. “If you don’t mind me asking,” Happy said, “Why Peter? You could get anyone to look after Morgan.”

Pepper shrugged, “Nebula and Rhodey are both busy. And I needed someone with abilities to keep up with her.” She shook her head, exasperated, “Rocket skates, I tell you. What was Tony thinking?” 

Happy chuckled and helped her onto the plane.


End file.
